Download or read book Rajiv written by Sonia Gandhi and published by Viking Adult. This book was released on 1992 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a portrait of Rajiv Gandhi by the person who knew him best: his wife Sonia. It is in four parts, the first and last being in the nature of meditations - one in words, the other in images. In the first, Sonia Gandhi reveals Rajiv through recollections and reflections, delicate and restrained in tone but powerful in resonance. In the last, Rajiv discloses the essence of himself in a gallery of his own photographs. The biographical narrative in between progresses through pictures and extended captions, interweaving Rajiv's personal history with the milieu in which it unfolded.
Download or read book Rajiv Gandhi written by Nicholas Nugent and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six years ago, Rajiv Gandhi found himself at the helm of a country of 800 m people. A former airline pilot, he had never been a cabinet minister and, indeed, had never aspired to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Jawarharlal Nehru, and his mother, Indira Gandhi.
Download or read book Rajiv Gandhi and Rama s Kingdom written by Ved Mehta and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This elegantly written book by the renowned author Ved Mehta is a chronicle of a tumultuous dozen years of recent Indian history—from the unsettled conditions that preceded the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the Hindu revival that followed the assassination of her son Rajiv. As Mehta explores the impulses that brought about the political and economic changes between 1982 and 1994, he also reveals what life is like in modern India, giving us a memorable portrait of an enigmatic land. Mehta begins by describing the politics that swirled around Indira Gandhi during the last two years of her life—in particular, the growing hostility among Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. He tells of the Sikhs’ demand for special status, their uprising against the Hindus in the Punjab, the government’s retaliation, the murder of Mrs. Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards, and the anti-Sikh rioting that followed. He goes on to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding Rajiv’s election as his mother’s successor; the change in atmosphere from optimism to disenchantment as Rajiv’s government became mired in a kickback scandal; Rajiv’s loss of office to V. P. Singh in the 1989 election; and his murder by a secessionist Tamil group from Sri Lanka in 1991. Throughout, Mehta provides vivid details of aspects of Indian history and culture, such as the impact of the accident at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the debate between the judiciary and Muslim clerics over economic support of divorced Muslim women, the peculiarities of the Indian telephone system, and the effect of television and movies on Hindu revivalism. His lucid and incisive book is mandatory reading for those who wish to understand India today.
Download or read book Rajiv s World written by Sonia Gandhi and published by Viking Adult. This book was released on 1994 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rajiv, authored by Sonia Gandhi in 1992, the year after her husband's assassination, was a portrait of him in the full current of his life. This book is a portrait of him too - but with a difference. It is one of which in a sense he is the author, since it is entirely composed of his photographs. Rajiv Gandhi, India's youngest-ever Prime Minister, was known world-wide for his qualities of leadership and his personal charisma. However, until the publication of Rajiv, in which some of his photographs appeared for the first time, few were aware that he was also an accomplished photographer. In this volume, Sonia Gandhi offers a wider selection of his photographs. Her brief but informative introduction explains his photography in context and discloses the significance it held for him. The photographs in the book, most of which have never been published before, span almost four decades, from his childhood to his last year in office. They have been grouped under the broad themes of family, nature and people. Within these categories are presented entrancing landscapes, minutely observed particulars of nature, abstract studies and fascinating family vignettes.
Download or read book The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi written by Neena Gopal and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2016-08-16 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 21 May 1991, journalist Neena Gopal had finished just one part of an interview with Rajiv Gandhi—the last of his life—when his car reached the election rally at Sriperumbudur. Moments later, Rajiv Gandhi was dead, blown up by suicide bomber Dhanu, irrevocably changing the course of Indian politics, as Neena Gopal, just yards behind him, watched in horror. In this gripping, definitive book, Gopal reconstructs the chain of events in India and at the LTTE’s headquarters in Sri Lanka where the assassination plot was hatched, and follows the trail of investigation that led to the assassins being brought to justice. Drawing on extensive interviews, research and her own vast experience as a journalist, she deftly establishes the background—the shortsightedness of India’s Sri Lanka policy; the friction between the intelligence agencies and between the agencies and the external affairs ministry; the many warnings that went unheeded; and the implacable hatred that LTTE supremo Prabhakaran felt for Rajiv Gandhi. Bringing all these complex threads together, Gopal takes us step by step to Sriperumbudur as Rajiv Gandhi walked inexorably to his death on that tragic May evening twenty-five years ago.
Download or read book A Time of Transition written by Mani Shankar Aiyar and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mani Shankar Aiyar looks back to the changes that have taken place during the -Time of Transition' "the two decades since Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi left office after the Lok Sabha elections of November 1989. Rajiv Gandhi was the fourth prime minister of India in four decades of independence, but the last twenty years have seen as many as eight prime ministers and several more governments. Accompanying the change from single-party governance to the instability of coalition politics are major transformations in the pace, trajectory and even the goals of nation-building. It is these contentious transitions that are reflected in the five major themes of this volume: Democracy, Secularism, Socialism, Nonalignment, and Neighbourhood Policy. Mani Shankar Aiyar was both a witness to, and a reluctant participant in, these processes of change: as joint secretary in Rajiv Gandhi's prime minister's office, as an MP since 1991, and today as a cabinet minister in the United Progressive Alliance government. His columns for the Indian Express are analytical and vivid commentaries on their times, written in the author's inimitable style. This collection sheds light on a critically significant era in contemporary India.
Download or read book Rajiv Gandhi written by Benny Aguiar and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi written by Faraz Ahmad and published by Vitasta Publication. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For twenty-three years a myth has been perpetuated that former Prime Minisiter Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE because it feared his return to power in 1991. But if this basic premise is disputed and the alternate scenario is shown, that the Congress which returned to power in 1991, fell short of a simple majority, even after Rajiv's death, then the entire bottom of this thesis is knocked off and the theory falls flat on its nose. This book is also about conspiracies and intrigue, but it also has attempted to explode this myth and seeks to find why Rajiv was killed if he was not likely to return to power in the 1991 mid-term elections?"--Back cover.
Download or read book My Years with Rajiv Triumph and Tragedy written by Wajahat Habibullah and published by Westland. This book was released on with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About the Book A CANDID ACCOUNT OF RAJIV GANDHI’S PRIME MINISTERIAL YEARS. On 21 May 1991, Wajahat Habibullah, then the commissioner of Kashmir (constituting the valley and the two districts of Ladakh), had returned home after inspecting a mysterious fire at Dalgate, Srinagar. Much to his dismay, there had been another fire, one that left him devastated: an RDX explosion in the south Indian town of Sriperumbudur had taken the life of India’s sixth prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. My Years with Rajiv is an endearing account of a friendship that turned into an administrative partnership, one that gave Habibullah an acute insight into Rajiv Gandhi’s political life. But equally, in this lucid memoir, recounting his years in the Indian Administrative Service, particularly at the Prime Minister’s Office, he walks us through the last three decades of the twentieth century—in many ways, the most formative years of Indian history. Habibullah also seeks to demystify the workings of the Indian government and bureaucracy: the modernisation of the Nehruvian nation, the turbulence of the Khalistan years in Punjab, the introduction of grassroots policies aimed at poverty alleviation in rural India, the beginning of telecommunications services, the Shah Bano case, the opening of the locks at Babri Masjid–Ram Janmabhoomi, Indian interventions in Sri Lanka, and much else. In this, the author, a natural raconteur, is more than successful, telling the tale in his inimitably candid and self-effacing manner.
Download or read book Indira Gandhi written by H Y Sharada Prasad and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India for over sixteen years, was a brave freedom fighter and a passionate patriot, deeply committed to the honour and integrity of India. She was also a devoted mother and grandmother, who was great fun to be with—she loved books, nature, art, sports and puzzles. Born into the illustrious Nehru family in Allahabad, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was educated at Santiniketan, Geneva and Oxford, and was determined since childhood to serve the people of India. This biography, with a foreword by Rajiv Gandhi, and illustrated with rare photographs, portrays very simply but eloquently the life of the ‘Iron Lady of India’ from her birth on 19 November 1917 to her assassination on 31 October 1984.
Download or read book The Lotus Years written by Ashwini Bhatnagar and published by Hachette India. This book was released on 2019-12-20 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘He was their Next Big Hope, after the first one had been dashed to the ground...’ When Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister in 1984 it was for him a baptism of fire. The tumultuous years that followed witnessed the beginnings of economic reform and the stemming of regional insurgency on the one hand, and the drama of the Shah Bano case and the Bofors scandal on the other – events that sent tremors through the country and its political establishment. As a journalist covering politics from the time of Indira Gandhi’s reign, Ashwini Bhatnagar observed at close quarters the consequences of the transition from iron-handed rule to one of earnest naivety, the calculations of the country’s foremost political players, dramatic election campaigns and the unwieldy workings of dynastic politics. In The Lotus Years, Ashwini draws from his field notes to weave a remarkable chronicle that brings together the life of a reluctant prime minister, the inner dynamics of his powerful family and the story of a maturing democratic nation, laying bare the intricacies and dissonances of political life in India.
Download or read book Sonia Gandhi written by Rani Singh and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sonia Gandhi's story represents the greatest transformational journey made by any world leader in the last four decades. Circumstance and tragedy, rather than ambition, paved her path to power. Born into a traditional, middle-class Italian family, Sonia met and fell in love with Rajiv Gandhi, son of future Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, while studying English in Cambridge. Cruelly tested by the assassinations of her mother-in-law and of her husband, Sonia grew into a strong, authoritative but always private figure, now president of a coalition ruling over a billion people in the world's largest democracy. Through exclusive interviews with members of Sonia's party, political opponents and family friends, Rani Singh casts new light on Sonia. In the first mainstream biography of this inspirational figure, the author's compelling narrative retraces the path of the brave and beautiful Sonia Gandhi, examining what her life and legacy mean for India.
Download or read book The Untold Vajpayee written by Ullekh N P and published by Random House India. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite his grand 'secular' statements in Parliament that bordered on the Nehruvian, Atal Bihari Vajpayee has often taken brief excursions into the hardline camp. In 1983, he made an incendiary speech during the Assam elections in which the presence of 'Bangladeshi foreigners' in the state was a big issue. Even the BJP had disowned Vajpayee's speech, which possibly inspired the massacre of over 2000 people, mostly Muslims, in Nellie in Assam. Vajpayee, one of the shrewdest politicians of India, is known for negotiating multiple contradictions: from militant nationalism to his secret family life; his stint as a communist; his indulgence in food; influence of Gandhi and Nehru; Narendra Modi and Gujarat issues; foreign policies; and his attempt to project himself as a moderate face, if not liberal, among others. Exploring crucial milestones of Vajpayee's career and his traits as a seasoned politician, the book looks at his relationship with leaders of his party and the love-hate association with RSS and its feeder organizations. Thoroughly researched, supported by hard facts and accompanied by inside stories and anecdotes, insightful interviews and archival photographs, The Untold Vajpayee would open a window to the life and times of a poet politician.
Download or read book Assassination of Mahatma Indira Rajiv Gandhis written by K. Ragothaman and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2020-02-07 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 30th January 1948; 31st October 1984; 21st May 1991. These three days bear significant importance in the history of independent India. The nation witnessed the assassination of the Father of the Nation, the Prime Minister of India and an ex-Prime Minister of India respectively. It is even more startling because it was the first instance where a mother and her son were robbed of their lives because of political and religious reasons. Assassination of Mahatma – Indira – Rajiv Gandhis' by K. Ragothaman is an attempt to shed light on these occurrences and what led to their gruesome deaths. It is also a commentary on the functioning of the law enforcement agencies and the Executive. As the Chief Investigating Officer in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Mr Ragothaman is in a unique position to discuss the intricacies of three of the most significant occurrences in the history of 20th century India. The events leading up to these dates have been reconstructed to give the reader a holistic picture and how these three seemingly individual tragedies are connected.
Download or read book The Great Game in Afghanistan written by Kallol Bhattacharjee and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-06-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the height of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, a complex multinational diplomacy had proposed setting up a coalition government in Kabul as a solution to the 'Afghan problem'. Even as all sides worked on the coalition, the US took steps that India considered a 'stab in the back'. With the help of the official papers collected by US ambassador John Gunther Dean and conversations with Ronen Sen, Rajiv Gandhi's diplomatic aide during those crucial years, the author recreates the falling apart of the India-US cooperation and the catastrophic effect it had on South Asian history.
Download or read book Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi written by Kē Rakōttamaṉ and published by Conran Octopus. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The gruesome assassination of former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on 21st May, 1991 was meticulously planned and flawlessly executed by hardcore cadres of LTTE. It was an unique and first of its kind murder plan wherein a human bomb, that too a lady, was used, killing not only Rajiv Gandhi, nine police officers and six other persons, but also causing grievous injury to more than fifty persons assembled at the election meeting to hear the views of Rajiv Gandhi. Due to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the nation suffered a great tragedy and the Lok Sabha Elections (1991) had to be postponed. The perpetrators of heinous crime, by assassinating Rajiv, directly interfered in our sovereign rights and caused disruptive activities in our democratic system. The method of assassination as well as the terrorist outfits involved therein remained a mystery for quite sometime. Theories after theories, news after news, were planted and disinformation campaigns floated by so-called Goebbels without any basis. The author, who was the chief investigating officer of the case in CBI, has deeply gone into the investigation in spite of having no clue to start with. Piece by piece, step by step evidences were collected and on the pug-marks, the culprits were apprehended and the main faces of the conspirators were unmasked. The author, in this book, has given detailed account of the investigation and also exposed the persons behind the disinformation campaign and revealed as to how the CBI investigation was derailed and many of the bureaucrats and political personalities were allowed to go scot free." --Publisher description.
Download or read book Durbar written by Tavleen Singh and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2017-06-29 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tavleen Singh’s acclaimed and bestselling memoir begins in the summer of 1975 when, not yet twenty-five, she started working as a junior reporter in the Statesman in New Delhi. Within five weeks, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency, and soon reckless policies said to be authored by her younger son were unleashed on India’s citizens. In 1984, following Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, fortified by a huge mandate from a nation desperate for change. But, belying its hopes, the young leader chose for himself a group of advisors, friends and acolytes just as unaware as him of the ground realities of a complex nation. It was the beginning of a political culture of favouritism and ineptitude that would take hold at the highest levels of government, stunting India’s ambitions and frustrating its people for years to come. A sharp account of these turbulent years, Durbar describes the Nehruvian era of Singh’s childhood, the Emergency of her youth and the political shifts that followed, bringing with them insurgencies, massacres, and crises internal and external. This remarkable memoir, vivid with the colour of election campaigns and society dinners, low conspiracies and high corruption, reminds us of this truth: that if India is to achieve a better future, the past cannot be ignored or forgotten.
